I am Grandma Sandy (according to my 4 yr old)

I AM

2011-10-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

I came across a song today on a blog I read and it really hit home.

I started listening and before I knew it, tears were streaming down my cheeks.

The lyrics are simple and beautiful.

Words that I’ve known and prayed throughout my life.

So when the tears started flowing I was kinda surprised a little bit because I realized that the emotion behind those tears wasn’t just gratitude for who God is. It was something else, too.

This entire year for our family has been an exercise in faith.

With every step of this move we’ve had to step out in blind faith.

Where to buy a house?

What kind of living arrangements do we need to accommodate a family of 7 plus Pastor Margaret?

How do we move 2 households at the same time?

New oncologists for Pastor Margaret?

The normal yet tedious financial and legal issues that have to be dealt with after the loss of our PawPaw?

Schools for the kids?

Job for me?

The list goes on and on.

I can’t speak for anyone else in our family, but for me, the only way to approach a move such as this has been blind faith and one step at a time.

I have literally prayed my way through the majority of this year.

Well, I say I’ve prayed my way through this year and I truly have, but I also realized that I’ve kind of gone through all of these changes in a....well....kind of a robotic way. Sort of emotionless.

I tend to get overly analytical and try to figure out what God is doing and the reasoning behind this and such and so on.

AS IF I could ever figure anything out!

In an attempt to not let the stress of it all get to me I think I’ve power-prayed my way through it all, instead of letting Christ carry me through.

Does that make sense?

Probably not.

I’m still thinking this through even as I type.

But as I listened to I Am by Nichole Nordeman I was freshly reminded by the simple fact that the God who knit me together in my mother’s womb is the same God who felt my tears when I was scared to go to Sunday School as a 3 year old when my Mama had to leave me to go play the organ for worship.

He’s the same God who cheered me on when Stephanie Steckler taught me how to ride a bike without training wheels.

He’s the same God who loved me as my heart broke when I saw 3 girls outside my high school boyfriend’s bedroom window.

He’s the same God who smiled when my Daddy gave me roses for my sweet 16th birthday.

He’s the same God who saw yet forgave all the stupid butt-headed things I ever did and continue to do.

He’s the same God who blessed me with a husband and 5 precious children.

He’s the same God who loved and carried me through the pain of a miscarriage.

He’s the same God who has carried our family throughout this year and through every major life change.

And most importantly, not only is He all of that for me, but He is becoming all of that for each of my children.

At least that is my prayer.

There is nothing that escapes God’s attention.

He knows it all.

And He loves us through every second whether we acknowledge it or not.

I pray that each of my children will come to know Jesus in a very real and personal way.

So when I think of who God is to me today, I would have to say He is my Friend, Sustainer, Counselor, Protector and Shield.

Who is He to you?

Sometimes I really hate being right.

2011-10-15T14:20:00.000-05:00

In my last post I introduced you to our newest family member, Suzy.

Unfortunately, these days Suzy is now sporting a few fashion accessories that she would most certainly rather not be forced to wear.

The look says it all, doesn’t it?

There’s a reason why good ole Suzy has to wear this lovely cone.

(I did at least try to spruce it up with a pink ribbon!)

At the ripe old age of 7 months (at least that’s how old the vet estimates her to be), Suzy has already had hip surgery.

Bless her heart.

So here’s what happened.

A few Saturdays ago the kids played outside for most of the day.

As late afternoon turned into early evening I called for the kids to come in because it was starting to get dark.

“Ok, Mom! Let us finish playing this game!”

“Well, hurry up because it’s getting dark and someone could get hurt! And bring in all the scooters and other riding toys while you’re at it!”

5 minutes passes.

10 minutes.

15 minutes.

Grandma Sandy is getting irritated.

“Kids, it’s too dark to be outside and I TOLD YOU 15 minutes ago to clean up and get inside. It’s dark and someone is gonna get hurt!”

“Ok, Mom, we’re bringing in the scooters now!”

“You have approximately 3 minutes!

Do! NOT! Make Me! Come Out There!

GOT IT?!?”

“Yes, ma’am! We got it!”

Then approximately 2 1/2 minutes later, Middle Man comes running in saying, “Mama, Mama, Mama, we were coming up the hill and you know those rocks? Those rocks coming up the hill? Peanut was stepping on those rocks coming up the hill only one of those rocks she stepped on actually wasn’t a rock it was really Suzy and I think her leg is broken!!!”

Sometimes I really hate being right.

An Emergency Pet Care visit, X-rays that revealed a broken hip, shots, worming and spay procedure totaling close to $1,000 for a dog that we didn’t think we needed but who clearly knew better because we missed her like crazy when she was gone and voila!

Suzy has a bunch of stitches in two different places and a lovely cone to wear for 7-10 days.

Bless her heart.

Unfortunately, Suzy isn’t the only injured member of our family.

A few days before the broken hip incident the kids were once again, playing outside.

Peanut wanted to ride Guitar Boy’s Ripstik.

“Peanut, that’s not a good idea.”

“But Mom, I promise I’ll be really careful!”

“Peanut, I really don’t think it’s a good idea, even if you’re really careful.”

“But Mom, you let me ride it in TN and nothing happened.”

“Peanut, our driveway in TN was like, 2 feet long. There wasn’t much room for you to fall and break an arm. This driveway is not only much longer but there’s a slope to it and trust me. You’ll fall and break an arm.

It’s not a good idea.”

“But Mom, I’ll be really, really careful and I promise I won’t go anywhere up the driveway. I’ll just stay right here and practice riding circles around the cars and stuff.”

I hesitated.

I shouldn’t have done that.

“Ok, Peanut but ONLY if you stay on this end of the driveway.

Do NOT go up the slope because you’ll fall and break an arm and I mean it!”

A little while later Grandma Sandy leaves to go buy some Gulf shrimp so The Chef can make shrimp and grits for supper because our friend, John, was coming over to eat.

I get to the seafood place and realize I forgot to ask The Chef if he wanted me to get jumbo shrimp or medium shrimp so I start digging for my cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, do you want jumbo or medium shrimp?”

“What’s the difference in price?”

I tell him.

“Um, get medium.”

“Ok, I’ll be home in a few.”

“Ok. By the way, I think Peanut broke her arm.”

My mind explodes into a thousand pieces while the shrimp lady is still standing there looking at me waiting to scoop up either the jumbo or the medium shrimp.

“Medium,” I tell her.

"WHAT?!?!?!?” I say to The Chef.

“Are you freaking kidding me?”

“No, I’m not kidding. But John is here and he’s looking at it.”

“OhmydearlordI’llbehomeinaminute.”

Upon my arrival back at the Grandma Sandy compound, I find our friend John examining a tearful Peanut’s right forearm.

John and The Chef have been lifelong friends.

John is also our pediatrician.

The Chef says, “Well, she was riding the ripstik and was coming down the slope at the same time that Guitar Boy was riding by on the John Deere. I think she tried to get out of his way a little too quickly and fell on her right arm.”

Down the slope.

Down

the

slope.

Sometimes I really hate being right.

John concluded that a trip to the ER would only result in her arm being put in a splint and an appointment being made to consult an orthopedic Dr. so we made a quick trip to Rite-Aid to buy a splint and Grandma Sandy called the bone Dr. first thing Monday morning for an appointment.

Peanut had her arm X-rayed and we waited for the results.

Dogos was with us and was so excited when she saw “stickers on some toilet paper."

To pass the time, Dogos decided to entertain herself with a “stomp/clap/dance” game.

Soon the verdict was in.

Yep.

Fractured.

As if a broken arm wasn’t enough, our next step was to John’s office because Peanut needed a chicken pox booster.

Dogos started up with the stomp/clap/dance game again.

After our visits to two Dr.’s offices we decided that lunch at our favorite restaurant was in order.

And who can resist a trip to this store?

Finally, we headed back out to the country for home.

The stomp/clap/dance game did her in!

I’m not sure what the odds are of a family having both a kid and a dog with a broken bone at the same time but leave it to the Grandma Sandy family to beat those odds.

Thankfully in just a few short weeks both Peanut and Suzy will be as good as new.

Peanut has learned her (costly) lesson and has realized (I hope) that Grandma Sandy actually does know what she’s talking about.

As a Mom, it’s nice to prove that point.

However, sometimes I really hate being right.

And just in case she should forget, I thought I’d leave her a reminder.

Sometimes I hate being right.

But it’s always nice to have the final word!

Happy Fall, Y’all!

2011-10-09T14:40:00.000-05:00

In the loooong time since I last posted, the Grandma Sandy family has been busy, busy, busy.

Which is exactly why its been a loooong time since I last posted!

What have we been doing that’s kept us so busy?

Well, let’s see.....

Peanut has been busy making new friends.

Grandma Sandy is particularly happy about one new friend she has found....

See this cute face?

Cute Face is the daughter of a sorority ( Chi Omega!) sister of mine that lives here in this little town of ours.

Her Mom and I had tried to schedule a get-together several times during the summer so all the kids could meet but we could never come up with a date that worked. As it turns out, Cute Face and Peanut ride the same bus. Once we all figured out who we were, (via texting pics of daughters!) Peanut and Cute Face became fast friends!

Upon further investigation, it turns out that Middle Man and Cute Face’s little brother, Brother Cute Face, are in the same class!!!

But Peanut and Middle Man aren’t the only ones that’ve found special friends.

Dogos has too!

more on that later...

We’ve also been busy trying to figure out a schedule that will accommodate the changes in our lives that come along with a move such as ours. One of those changes would be the fact that we now live on 10 acres as opposed to a tiny yard with barely a twig of grass in the backyard.

All I can say is.......

Thank the good Lord for neighbors like Vance who owns a big honking tractor and bush-hog!

The Chef literally got home one day and there was our new neighbor, bush-hogging our land. The folks in this little town are seriously that nice.

Since we moved here in June, The Chef had been busting his bee-hind by spending pretty much 2 solid days every other week on the big John Deere cutting the front part of the yard as well as around the barn. The previous owners shared that they’d have the majority of the property bush-hogged twice a year. One afternoon in August, The Chef and I had walked back to the barn area for him to show me the work he’d done when we saw Vance on the back part of his property, waving us over.

We were happy to meet the first of our new neighbors!

After we made our introductions, Vance says, “Did the former owners tell you I used to cut all this back here with my tractor every now and then?”

To which we replied, “Well, they said they’d have it bush-hogged, but......”

“Do either of you know how to drive a tractor?”

Trust me when I say you have no idea how quickly Grandma Sandy replied with a very emphatic but polite, “NO, No, no, noooo, no-no-no.”

To which Vance replied, “Well, if y’all don’t mind waiting a few weeks, I’ll get back here on my tractor and bush-hog it.”

I guess he meant what he said!

Thank you, Vance!!

School is now in full swing.

Here are Peanut, Middle Man and The Boss on the first day of school.

The Boss was so proud of her matching backpack and lunch box on her first day of school.

The Boss had a rough start to Kindergarten. She is ridiculously shy and change is hard for her. At the time, I was working as a Kindergarten assistant in a classroom across the hall from her classroom. You’d think that seeing me throughout the day on the playground, in the halls and in the cafeteria would be a comfort to her but instead, was just the opposite. It was really hard for her to see me, then leave me, see me again, then leave me again. Thankfully, as you can see from the photo above, she adjusted after some time and soon was all smiles.

Speaking of school, the school system here is THE reason we chose to buy a house where we did. It’s one of the top 3 school districts in the entire state.

One of the things that impressed me the most about this school district is the emphasis it puts on Fine Arts. Every aspect of their Fine Arts program is valued as highly as athletics and academics, the band program being one of them. The marching band is 175 members strong, competes in 4 marching contests each year and even marched in President Obama’s inaugural parade.

Here is Guitar Boy (second from left) with some of his fellow alto sax players. He was particularly proud when the head band director asked him to play bari sax in their jazz band because first of all, he loves jazz and improvisation and second of all, he’s the only freshman in the jazz band.

YAY, Guitar Boy!

Grandma Sandy is proud of YOU!

There’s no question that one of the main reasons why this school district is of such high quality is because of the strong community support.

This community literally pours money into it’s schools.

At the beginning of the school year I went by the athletic office to get my season tickets. The office is on the 2nd story of the field house so as I came off the elevator and rounded the corner, my jaw dropped when I saw this.....

This is part of the weight room on the ground floor.

Now, Grandma Sandy has admittedly never before been in the field house or weight room of a high school athletic department so maybe I’m unduly impressed, but for a school system that only has 4,000 students in the entire district, I thought that dang weight room was amazing!

After all, we’re talking public school!

In Mississippi!!

Middle Man and I had a date for the first football game.

Folks around here take football seriously. There were 10,000 people in attendance. For whatever reason, this game was on a Saturday and folks were tailgating starting at noon that day.

Tailgating for a high school football game.

I’mnotevenkidding.

Grandma Sandy quickly learned her lesson when she and Middle Man got to the game and literally had to park at the primary school and walk over a mile to the stadium.

Now we go park a car early in the day and drop off whichever family members are going to the game.

(season tickets are $75 each so we only got two!!)

In other school news, Grandma Sandy got a promotion.

I started off the year as a K teacher’s assistant.

And now?

I’m teaching 4th grade Language Arts!!!

The principal at the elementary school here got permission to hire a new Language Arts teacher because of high numbers (30, yikes!) in each class.

Long story short, that new teacher is now ME!

I interviewed on a Friday, got the call the following Thursday, started school the next Tuesday.

Tuesday morning I walked into my new classroom and this is what I saw.

After a slight panic attack, I took a deep breath, ran to School and Carnival

(you can’t very well put up posters of color words for 4th grade, right?)

and got busy.

With the help of the assistant principal and the 2 lead 4th grade teachers,

We were able to create a somewhat decent classroom in just a few hours!

I was sad to leave the little K students I’d gotten to know, happy to be out of the situation I was in, and totally terrified of the situation into which I was headed.

But before I left the familiar to head into the unknown, I was able to use my K skills for one last K class project.

Pretty cute, I think!

One thing that I have not gotten used to yet, are the thunderstorms that roll in from time to time.

Living so close to the Gulf, we get storms with some pretty scary skies.

A few weeks ago we were headed into town to go to church and the weather I was driving into about scared me half to death.

word.

Needless to say, we turned around immediately and went straight back home!!

Clouds like that in West TN would’ve meant tornadoes, tornadoes, tornadoes.

It rained and was windy but other than that it wasn’t too bad.

Since arriving here, the Grandma Sandy family has acquired a new family member.

Introducing.......

Suzy!

Suzy and her flop-eared little self appeared in our carport one day. We have no idea where she came from but she was clearly a puppy. We tried relentlessly to chase her off but she was not to be deterred. We checked with the local vet and asked all the neighbors but no one claimed her.

For whatever reason, Suzy decided to adopt us and we didn’t have the heart to not keep her.

She seriously is the sweetest, sweetest dog and fits right in with all the rest of us.

Even Spook agrees!

(well, most of the time!)

I hope your Fall and new school year has gotten off to a great start.

I have plenty more news to report and will begin a new blog post as soon as I post this one.

Hopefully it won’t take me 2 months to complete it. Sigh.

Nonetheless,

Happy Fall, Y’all!

100 Years of Lomax

2011-08-07T16:00:00.011-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, the girls and I set out on a fun day trip. We were invited by some sweet friends from TN to attend a family party of theirs held in a small town just a few miles from our new home.

So the girls and I set out and you have no idea how happy I was that this place....

...was on the way!

Before we moved to West TN, we would eat at Walker’s Dairy Bar all the time. It was a bit of a drive out highway 84, but worth it. It’s a family-owned place with the best burgers, shakes, and dinner baskets in the area.

If you’re watching your fat grams, sugar content, waist line, or in any way health conscious, don’t go there. In fact, you probably shouldn’t even drive by there or you’ll gain 10 lbs and clog an artery or two.

However, if you’ve lived in another state for 7 years and dreamed of Walker’s Dairy Bar, GO IMMEDIATELY.

Did I mention they have great shakes?

A picture is worth a thousand words, for sure.

After we finished our burgers, fries, and fabulous shakes, we were on our way to meet our sweet friends from West TN.

This is R and M. We first met through R’s mom who is one of my favorite people EVER, but it didn’t take long for us to make other connections. One of which being that M and I are Mississippi girls from the same area of the state. Another being that we were both pregnant with daughters born within a few days of each other. There are other things that connected us but the most significant reason for this friendship is the fact that once you get to talking to these two, you feel like you’ve known them your whole life.

They are “Grandma Sandy’s Kind of People.”

Don’t you just know what I mean?!?

And guess what....

Their whole family is the same way!

What a beautiful bunch, don’t you think?

We were invited to their home to celebrate “100 Years of Lomax.”

The Lomax family was celebrating 100 years of being in their sweet hometown.

Now, at first I was worried that we would be crashing some kind of huge family reunion. Thankfully, R informed me that the Lomax family has a huge party every year and just finds a different reason to celebrate. This year just so happened to be the 100th year of Lomax. Yay, Lomax family!!

Allow me to introduce you to Margie, the grand matriarch.

Isn’t she the cutest stinkin' thing you’ve ever seen?

Get this..

She’s 94.

I promise you I thought she was in her late seventies, but no. She’s 94 and just as cute as you can imagine.

While family was all beginning to gather, my 3 girls and the 2 R family girls, J and G, went for a swim.

(I swear to you I had a better picture of their beautiful pool other than this sliver of the corner of the steps. It truly was beautiful. Just use your imagination!)

Family and friends from town started to gather at the main house on the “Lomax Compound.”

The “Lomax Compound" consists of M’s parents’ house with this beautiful patio and outdoor kitchen...please ignore the Ole Miss sign and Auburn symbol and don’t hold it against them, I promise they are good people anyway, hehe...as well as cute Margie’s house on one side and what’s known as the Stab’n Cabin on the other side. I’m not sure what the Stab’n Cabin is all about but the name itself intrigues me to no end!

Isn’t the outdoor kitchen beautiful?

Simply to die for.

Except for Ole Miss and Auburn.

However, when you’re in the south it’s all about the SEC anyway.

At least that’s how this MSU fan chose to look at things, so it’s all good. ;-)

J and The Boss clearly had a few things to discuss.

Girl talk is the best!

After swim time, everyone got dressed in their party clothes and the 5 girls had fun with sidewalk chalk...

..and fun on the swings...

..while the grown-ups began making preparations for a low country boil.

More outside fun!

Dinner time for the kids!!

This is M’s mom, ML, making dinner preparations.

She was the absolute perfect hostess.

And when I saw this flag.....

..I knew she was my kinda gal!!!

Gulf shrimp, oh how I love you!

After a fun day and evening, the girls had to begin their goodbyes.

I promise you, the goodbyes took forever.

We left way later than I intended and far sooner than I wanted.

Thank you, R and M for such a good time and including us in your family fun. And also for the blue Lomax cups. They are a total hit around the Grandma Sandy house!

Thank you also, to Dan and M Lomax and the rest of the fabulous Lomax family!

Congratulations on your 100 years and may you have 100 more!!

Ok....so what’s next’s year’s theme gonna be?!?

thoughts

2011-07-29T23:31:00.007-05:00

It’s my first Sunday night in many Sunday nights that I’m anticipating the beginning of a new school year tomorrow. I’m in a new place, in a different role and don’t have a clue what to expect. Middle Man just came in here and said, “Mom, I’m gonna pray for you tomorrow. I know you’ll have fun.”

Thank you, Middle Man! I know you will, and I hope I do!

Am I nervous? Not really. Not yet, at least. I’m sure I will be at some point tomorrow. I guess I’m trying to figure out what exactly I DO feel. I’m so very thankful to have a job in this sweet little town that is now our home. I will be working in Kindergarten where The Boss will be a brand new little K student. I’m beyond grateful to be in the same school with The Boss. My past 7 years at my beloved TBE afforded me the luxury of seeing my elder 3 children each and every day.

Tomorrow I start a new job. A new beginning. There is a purpose in this and I can’t wait to see what God has in store. I’m so curious!

Last weekend the girls and I were able to see some sweet friends from TN that were in this area to celebrate a special family event of theirs. I will blog about it soon. (I hope!) They are the kind of folks that you feel like you’ve known your whole life. It was so wonderful to see them. We talked nonstop. When the girls and I left, I had to squeeze back the tears. It’s hard to say goodbye and suddenly in that moment I felt, finally, that I was saying a goodbye to not just them but all of my friends and family in West TN.

There are so many things I’ve wanted to blog about over the summer. Middle Man’s birthday, Kindergarten Jumpstart for The Boss, our new church and home, Peanut’s church trip, Guitar Boy’s Band Camp experience, the fact that there is a pear tree in our yard. I am presently choosing to ignore the fact that I found a snake skin underneath the bucket of pool toys right by our back porch so don’t expect a blog about that. I hope to be able to post about all of those things. But not the snake skin. The move seemed to consume the summer!

But as I lie here in bed, anticipating a new role, new environment, new friends, new everything....I’m thinking about our family friend, Susan, who has been in the fight of her life and I can’t even imagine what thoughts fill her heart and mind tonight. Go read her words and lift her up in prayer with me.

www.toddlerplanet.wordpress.com

Favorite. Sign. Ever.

2011-07-21T15:26:00.003-05:00

I had to run into town to mail something at the post office and on the way back decided to stop here.

Remember Paw Paw’s Garden Market?

And his letter?

I needed some tomatoes so I stopped by Paw Paw’s and what did I find?

Another letter.

Made my day.

Busy summer fun

2011-07-12T14:47:00.010-05:00

After my last post, we lost our internet function again for what seemed like ten forevers.

Thankfully a friend was able to reconfigure some things and now we’re back up and running!

Hopefully for good.

Living in the country is always interesting. The slightest summer rain blows in and the satellite blinks out but thankfully usually returns quickly. Internet has obviously been an issue. Then the other afternoon I looked out my kitchen window and saw 3 ducks walking through my yard!

There was also a snake slithering through my carport the other night but I don’t like to think about that too much.

Now, on to some of our summer fun!!

So far this summer we enjoyed VBS at our new church....

...with a hot dog lunch upon it’s conclusion.

Clearly, Dogos enjoys wearing her food as much as eating it.

Our beloved LaLa came to town to help with kids while The Chef was at work and Grandma Sandy unpacked a bajillion boxes.

There are many things about south Mississippi that we were eager to show LaLa.

The very first of which?

The Mississippi pageant preliminaries that were available online!!!

hallelujah and praise God from whom all blessings flow because, friends, the (un)talent is a sight to behold

Don’t let her good looks fool you.

bless her heart

I hereby make this solemn pledge and promise that next year I will give all you blog readers out there plenty of warning. This is something you do. not. want. to. miss.

My Aunt Sarah says they should rename the talent portion to be “The Miss Mississippi Pageant Contest of Vocal Miscalculations."

Other summertime activities included the following....

Grandma Sandy plucked a rock, yes, a small rock, from Dogos’ ear with tweezers. Apparently she shoved it in there while on the playground at VBS. However, I didn’t discover it until several hours later!!

We’ve done lots of swimming at all hours of the day..

...and night.

We squeezed in two brief trips to Gulfport.

Sorry no pictures.

As well as a road trip to New Orleans!!

Middle Man kept cracking us up looking at everything through his newly acquired binoculars.

In case you’re wondering what he was looking at...

..it was the bridge over Lake Pontchartrain.

He seemed to be quite taken with his view because he kept saying, “WOW, you guys just wouldn’t believe this view. It’s INCREDIBLE!”

After reaching New Orleans, we took the kids to the spectacular Aquarium of the Americas. It was great to see it rebuilt after Katrina and looking so great.

The Boss was kinda scared at first no shocker there but Dogos our water-obsessed child thought she’d died and gone to heaven.

We had some silly fun...

Studied all of the beautiful sea creatures...

Then on our way back to the parking garage walked very, very quickly past this place!!

And headed to the French Quarter, of course!

We enjoyed some jazz played by some local kids,

while eating beignets at Cafe du Monde

And then afterwards, danced in the streets of New Orleans!

After returning home, we’ve played dress-up...

Dogos takes a page out of Middle Man’s book...

Saturday night the grown-ups went to a very small, hole-in-the-wall Oyster Bar to hear an old friend..

...and his band play!

It was SO much fun. We met some wonderful new friends there to eat, listen to great music, and support our friend Wes.

Then of course there was another variation of dress-up yesterday afternoon!

We closed out the weekend with a “low-country boil."

The Chef boiled 10 lbs of jumbo-sized Gulf shrimp, corn, potatoes, sausage, and a couple of artichokes.

Can I get an amen?

Our summer so far has been packed with fun activities.

What about you?

Any fun activities around your household?

My favorite find so far

2011-06-29T12:07:00.006-05:00

FINALLY! Grandma Sandy is back in the world of WiFi!!

We’re still trying to get settled.

Tons of boxes to still unpack.

But I wanted to take a quick minute to post about my favorite discovery so far since we’ve been back to good ole south Mississippi.

I think the pictures tell the story pretty well.

We sure do miss our friends back in West Tennessee, but I have to say.... there’s no place like south Mississippi and its great to be home!

What I’ve been doing.......

2011-05-26T12:18:00.003-05:00

Packing boxes is.....

getting kinda old.....

which isn’t altogether too surprising since.....

I’ve been packing boxes for two months now.......

All I can say is that I’m so grateful that......

When I die and go to heaven, I don’t have to take ONE single thing with me!!!!!!

Moving day countdown.....7 days!!!

Happy blogoversary!

2011-05-15T14:06:00.002-05:00

Happy blogoversary (or whatever the appropriate word may be) to Grandma Sandy!

After I posted yesterday it occurred to me that the one year anniversary of creating this blog was probably coming up pretty soon so I checked back and sure enough, I accidentally created Grandma Sandy on May 15, 2010!

When I started this blog I had no idea what it would be or become.

A year later I still have no idea really what it is or will be except a way for me to record our family activities and things I think about from time to time.

My only regret is that I don’t have time during the school year to blog as often as I would like.

But the good news is that I only have 1 more week of school and then it’ll be summer again!

So happy 1 year to Grandma Sandy and happy summer, too!

Tomorrow is The Chef’s birthday and like last year I’m making lasagna.

So now I’m off to start the sauce that has to cook for nearly 3 hours.

Happy Sunday to you all and thanks for sticking with me for the past year!

End of School days

2011-05-14T11:31:00.008-05:00

Lots of activities going on at the end of the school year. We can hardly find time to keep up with it all!

This will be a long post as I try to recount what all we’ve done, so be ready to sit back for a while!

First up? Our school’s second annual Vocabulary Parade!

The students each choose a word and then dress up in a way to represent the word.

Middle Man chose the word “popcorn.”

I’m pretty sure he chose “popcorn” so that he could eat the popcorn we popped as part of his costume.

Peanut chose “address.”

(Incidentally, her friend next to her chose the word Incognito)

She absolutely refused to wear “a dress” as part of her costume which to me would’ve made the whole thing complete but she was proud and happy with it as it was so I didn’t argue!

Here is our cute principal.....

I told her she looked fancy enough to head straight to the Kentucky Derby!

Take a look at some of the other cute and creative words our clever kids came up with.......

And then.......

My all-time favorite........

Don’t you just love it?!?

If you knew this kid and his personality you could appreciate this picture even more but his face pretty much tells it all!

He is quite a character!

Middle Man had a very special responsibility this week.....

.....Teacher for the Day!

He earned 125 AR points therefore qualifying him for the honor so he got to be the teacher for his class all day long. He said he even had to pull someone’s conduct card. (I think he especially liked that part!)

Another exceptionally exciting event this past week for my Kindergarteners was our Butterfly release!

A few weeks ago the UPS guy delivered our 5 teeny, tiny caterpillars to our classroom.

Each day we watched our caterpillars and I promise you, I think my students could literally have sat there for hours watching them crawl around. They were SO fascinated.

We were out of school for a few days at Easter for Easter holidays as well as a few bonus days for severe weather and flooding. When we returned, we had 3 caterpillars in cocoons and 2 more in the process.

Then Friday of last week we got to school and had a butterfly!

But wait...it gets even better...

That very same morning during breakfast and right before the Vocabulary Parade, we got to actually SEE a butterfly emerge from its cocoon.

It was the coolest thing! The children were beyond excited.

I’m so thankful we were able to catch it when it happened. It’s something that I’m sure they’ll never forget.

Over the weekend the other 3 emerged from their cocoons so on Monday morning we went outside with the class next door to release our 5 beautiful painted lady butterflies.

See how excited they are?!?

As each butterfly made it’s way out of the net container and flew off into the wide open space, they would jump and cheer.

Next up? Guitar Boy’s spring concert.

Guitar Boy normally plays alto or bari saxophone but the band director needed a tuba for the concert so Guitar Boy played tuba instead!

That’s him on the far right in the white shirt leaning on the tuba. HA.

This is Guitar Boy with his band director. He has learned so much from Mr. Rollins and we’re so grateful for all Mr. Rollins has done.

If I may take a moment to brag, I will.

Guitar Boy is extremely talented.

Like maybe even freakishly talented?

Freakish to me, at least!

I don’t say that just because I’m his Mom, although I am very proud of him, but he has at times shocked The Chef and me with how naturally he picks up things. For instance...

The tuba music he played for the spring concert? He sight-read it only the day before. And he doesn’t even really play the tuba! He’s only been a band student and been able to read music at all for 3 years yet he’s sight reading music for a concert on a horn that he just decided to learn to play one day.

We are excited about the high school that Guitar Boy will be attending next year. It is an excellent high school with an exceptional music program. Their bands have competed nationally and their marching band most recently marched in President Obama’s Inaugural Parade.

As it turns out, Mr. Rollins is good friends with the band director at the high school where Guitar Boy will attend next year.

Thank you, Mr. Rollins, for giving Guitar Boy such a solid start and we are looking forward to seeing how Guitar Boy’s talent will continue to develop!

Guitar Boy was quite the performer this week but another child of mine clearly was not.....

Here is Dogos at her end of the year Playschool program.

Now if you recall, at the Playschool Christmas program, she sang, and jingled, and sang her little heart out and The Boss was the one who sucked her thumb and didn’t sing a single note.

Needless to say and for some inexplicable reason, Dogos not only took a page from The Boss’s book but took it one step further and kept her back to the audience for the entire 20 minute performance.

Here she is during the “Hippopotamus song."

And during the “Puppy Song."

And during the “counting song."

And the grand finale, “I’m a Playschool Cutie” song.

She sure does have a cute ponytail, right?!?

ahem

After Dogos’ non-performance, I headed back to school for the remainder of our Field Day where Peanut and her friend, “Incognito” from the Vocabulary parade were 5th grade Field Day helpers!

They had a great time as helpers and truly did a wonderful job!

My class had so much fun at each station including the egg and spoon relay...

as well as the 50 yard dash..

I sure am gonna miss these sweet faces!

Only 5 days of school left. Hard to believe!

Finally, for those of you who are still reading and haven’t either fallen asleep or given up....

It was the Playschool End of the Year program for The Boss!

This particular program was noteworthy for several reasons...

First, it’s The Boss’s last program before heading to big school....Kindergarten!

Second, for the first time ever, Ever EVER, The Boss actually sang!

She sang AND did all the motions!

Third, Dogos’ teachers suggested that Dogos join the program for a 2nd time since she clearly was not in a performing mood the day before.

So we decided to give it a try.

Notice The Boss on the top row singing and doing motions.

Notice Dogos on the bottom row with her hand over her eyes.

And here is the “Hippopotamus song."

And here is the “My God is so Big” song.

And the “Little Red Box” song.

At one point she briefly pulled her shirt up completely over her face.

I SO wish I had something better than my iPhone to take pics that morning because the few moments when she would take her hands down the expression on her face was so overly dramatic that it was not to be believed.

So I guess in a way, she truly did perform, just not in the way her parents and teachers intended!

Now the next few pics are amusing to me for a few reasons..

The Boss is always saying that she doesn’t want to go to school because she has no friends and no one will play with her. This little girl here ran up and hugged The Boss SO tight.

No, friends, eh Boss?

The other thing that makes me laugh is, notice the white blur on the bottom left corner?

The white blur was Dogos running in front of me to jump in the picture. You can tell by the look on her face that she’s trying to transition from “performance mode” to regular old smiling Dogos.

There, that’s better!

Nice to see that smile again!

And look at that, Boss...even more friends!!

The Boss and Julia.

The Boss with Julia and her sister, Gracie.

So, these last 2 weeks have certainly been busy as we are closing out our time in West TN. We will miss our friends and the Playschool. Some friends we probably won’t see again but we’re looking forward to seeing Julia, Gracie and their family at a special family event of theirs in July. End of the year activities are fun yet exhausting and Grandma Sandy has been packing, packing, packing.

I may have even suffered a slight panic attack when I realized today that the movers will be here in eighteen days!!!

There’s lots to do and more to share but for now, I gotta find a box and pack some more!

Have a great Saturday!

Easter weekend

2011-04-25T15:00:00.001-05:00

Easter weekend was full of fun and activity.

The Chef and I went to the noon service at our church on Friday. It was our church’s turn to host the community church service and the sermon was delivered by a pastor at a local Baptist church. I was eager to hear him preach because many of my friends attend this church and have spoken about what a dynamic preacher he is.

The sermon was wonderful and it was the perfect way to continue worship after Maundy Thursday the night before.

Saturday morning began with a pancake breakfast, pictures with the Easter bunny and an egg hunt at the church.

Now I must say that this year’s Easter bunny was unique for several reasons....

As you can see, this year’s Easter bunny had a unique sense of humor but perhaps the most unique thing about this year’s Easter bunny is the fact that.....

Grandma Sandy is his mother!!!

Yes, that’s right. Guitar Boy was the Easter bunny this year!

The events that preceded the picture above were hilarious and I wish I had them on video but since I don’t I’ll do my best to explain.

As we were walking into the front of Memorial Hall to have our picture made, Dogos took one look at the Easter Bunny and literally climbed up my leg and began to have a total freak attack.

It went something like this:

Dogos....no, no, No, NO, NO NONONONONOOOOOOOOO!!!

Me.....It’s ok, Dogos, it’s Guitar Boy, it’s Guitar Boy, it’s Guitar Boy!!!

Siblings......It’s ok, Dogos, it’s Guitar Boy, it’s Guitar Boy, it’s Guitar Boy!!!

Dogos.....NONONONONONO!!!!!!!!

Me.....QuickGuitarBoytakeoffyourbunnynose.

hurrytakeitofftakeitofftakeitoff

Guitar Boy, sans bunny nose......See, Dogos? It’s just me!

Cue Dogos’ brain explosion as she tries to process what is happening before falling out laughing.

Peanut is missing from the picture because she was off with a friend and we couldn’t find her.

Oh well, 4 out of 5 is pretty good, I’d say. ha

Next up? Egg Hunt!

The young children hunt eggs on the playground while big kids hunt out front. It’s safer that way!

And they’re off!

This sweet little girl is one of both my little girls' best friends.

Isn’t her outfit to die for?

So stinking cute.

I was also so proud of Dogos when she looked in her friend’s basket and upon the realization that her friend didn’t have many eggs, gave her some of her own.

If you’re like me, you want your children to be loving and kind towards others and when they actually are, unprompted, I’m always proud as well as more than a little surprised! Haha

Saturday afternoon, the younger 4 went to Lala’s house to dye Easter eggs while Grandma Sandy packed some boxes.

Middle Man can never resist an opportunity to be a little silly.

Sunday morning we got some treats in our Easter baskets.

(sorry no pics)

When Dogos woke up and walked into the den she said, “Hey, what are those baskets for?"

After church services we took some pictures of the kids.

Here are some of my favorites.

Easter weekend was fun.

Pancakes, egg hunts, Easter treats, good food and time with family.

We missed our Pawpaw but to think that he celebrated Easter at the feet of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Wow.

Happy Easter to you all.

Our Risen King

2011-04-25T14:37:00.002-05:00

I saw a link to this clip on youtube early Saturday morning.

How Great Thou Art was one of my grandmother’s favorite hymns.

I listened with tears rolling down my cheeks and chills up and down my spine.

I haven’t listened to or sung this hymn in a while and I was struck by 3 things.

The words are simple yet amazingly beautiful.

This girl was singing to a God that she knows and loves deeply and I think the whole audience including me could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as she sang.

This is our first Easter without our Pawpaw.

He is not with us but he IS with his risen Savior and Lord.

He IS at the feet of Jesus singing praises to the King of Kings.

We do serve a great and mighty God!

Jars of Clay - Worlds Apart

2011-04-21T22:32:00.001-05:00

I heard Jars Of Clay at a Youth Specialties weekend “many moons” ago.

I recently found this more recent recording.

I think that the words speak volumes as we remember this night in which Jesus was betrayed.

I don’t know about you, but I am convicted at least a thousand times a day of the endless ways in which I fall short and I so often feel in my faith relationship I’m truly Worlds Apart.

I know that I’m forgiven.

However, tonight I think of how Jesus must have felt when He was betrayed and knowing all that was before Him.

How it must’ve have felt when He took all of MY sins upon Him.

How Jesus knew what it meant to be worlds apart in the truest sense.

And then to know that He would’ve died for me even if I was the only person on this Earth that needed to be forgiven....

Well, it just makes me want to sing Alleluia! like Jars of Clay!

I pray God’s peace, love and joy to you all.

Growth, barn plans, and good news

2011-04-03T14:07:00.003-05:00

My little Kindergarten babies aren’t so little anymore. They are reading, adding, will soon be subtracting, and really growing.

Their academic growth is obvious. I see huge changes daily in what they can do. It’s so rewarding to see them have a “light bulb” moment. That very second when their developing brains make a connection, their eyes light up, and they see for themselves that they can DO what I’m telling them they have the ability to do!

Have I mentioned lately that I love Kindergarten?

Their physical growth has been harder to gauge.

That is, until this spring......

Their uniform skirts, which used to be way below their knees, are now several inches above!

Isn’t that so cute?!?

Gosh, they do grow fast, don’t they?

And to think that The Boss will be a Kindergartener herself next year!

lord help me

Now if you recall my last post, I stated that our new house has a barn.

I also stated that I had no idea what I would do with a barn but that I was sure I’d figure out something.

I think I know what I’m gonna do with said barn.......

That’s right...

CHICKENS!!

Free range chickens, to be more specific.

I figure, I’ve got a barn so why not use it?

and NO, I will not start going by Farmer Grandma Sandy.

The Grandma part is bad enough especially since I’m not even a Grandma.

Most people resist the title of Grandma even years after they have grandchildren and here I am starting a blog entitling myself Grandma Sandy, but whatever......

All last summer I was able to purchase fresh eggs from the Farmer’s Market here in West Tennessee.

Fresh eggs truly taste better and are so much better for you.

Fresh eggs have yolks that are a deep, rich orange color.

After you have fresh farm eggs a few times, cracking open a regular old egg from the store with its pale yellow yolk just kinda makes you feel....well....anemic or something.

Now don’t get me wrong. The first time I cracked open a farm fresh egg and saw that orange yolk it kinda grossed me out.

I wasn’t used to seeing that!

Eggs aren’t supposed to look like that, right?

Actually, they are.

So I’m gonna try my hand at chicken farming.

Maybe.

Not quite positive yet.

But pretty sure.

I’m at least researching it for next year.

I’ll let you know!

I also got some ridiculously exciting news this week from my cousin.

Take a look at this picture......

My cousin and her husband have been trying to have a family for several years. Recently they made the decision to undergo IVF.

She sent me this picture of the two beautiful embryos they transferred.

You can’t imagine how freaking excited I was when she told me a few short, yet looooooonnnng days later that she was pregnant!

I was hoping for twins, but so thrilled that it was one!

But wait.

It gets better.

This past week she texted me to say that she had just come from the Dr. and that they actually ARE expecting TWINS!!!

Originally, there were 2 sacs but 1 was measuring much smaller than the other and the Dr. anticipated that she would lose the small baby.

But her 10 week ultrasound showed two thriving, developing, beautiful babies with perfect heartbeats!!!

I’m so over the moon about her news that I literally have no words so I’ll just close with a few of my favorite scriptures.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my

mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the

depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

I waited patiently for the Lord;

He turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

He set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear

and put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 40:1-3

Mississippi girls don’t change their ways

2011-03-25T11:53:00.015-05:00

Grandma Sandy hasn’t blogged in a while because I’ve had to keep a secret.

And no, I’m not pregnant, thank goodness, so don’t even go there.

I usually blog about my family and our life but when the majority of what’s going on in our lives is something I can’t talk about, it’s hard to come up with something else to say, so I just haven’t said anything!

Obviously.

But the secret I’ve had to keep since January does not have to be kept any longer.

This Mississippi girl is heading back home!!

That’s right. Grandma Sandy and her family are moving back to south Mississippi at the beginning of the summer and we’re really excited.

The Chef has taken a position in a church in south MS. The pastor of the church there is the pastor that we started out in ministry with 20 years ago.

It’s a long story, but there’s no doubt that this has all been orchestrated by the Almighty God that we serve. To see how He’s been working the past several months is none other than amazing.

This church is also opening a counseling center and The Chef (who is also a marriage and family therapist) will have the opportunity to do therapy once again.

Sooooo........because the move is just around the corner, it was necessary for me to make a trip down south during our Spring Break this week to find a house.

Pastor Margaret, Peanut and I headed south on Sunday to meet......

.....Rebecca McCollough, our fabulous realtor!

Isn’t she just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?

She’s just so smart and cute and petite and stylish.

I just know that when I die and go to heaven and I’m a figure skater, I’m gonna look just like her.

I got in touch with Rebecca back in February to let her know what we were looking for, and bless her heart, she was gonna have her work cut out for her.

You see, not only is Grandma Sandy, The Chef, our 5 kids, 2 dogs, ginormous cat and Monty, the fish, moving to south MS but we’re taking Pastor Margaret with us!

We were looking for a house with either a guest house or enough acreage to build a guest house. Pastor Margaret needs to be with us but not WITH us, if you know what I mean.

Actually, we would’ve loved for her to be WITH us, too, but for her own sanity’s sake we determined that being with us would be good enough.

So, Rebecca started her hunt for the perfect house which would look something like this: a main house with at least 4 bedrooms and either a separate guest house or enough acreage to build a guest house that also wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Guess what she found?

A main house with 4 bedrooms and a separate guest house.

Unfortunately it cost an arm and a leg.

Actually, more like two arms and two legs and the word was that the owners were pretty firm about their asking price and were not expected to take more than a few thousand dollars less.

But we didn’t let that discourage us.

So, Rebecca lined up several houses for us to see on Monday.

After looking, and thinking, and looking, and analyzing, and thinking and praying, and calling in an expert from Gulfport to come give us her expert opinion on the 2 homes we’d narrowed it down to, it was determined that we would make an offer on the house that cost two arms and two legs.

Actually, after looking at the 2 homes, the expert (who is my smart and talented Aunt Sarah, an interior designer, who is also married to my Uncle Thad, an architect) quite frankly stated,

“I’d jump on this house in a red-hot minute. Don’t even think about that other crummy house. It’s not built well, the owner has tried to take on too many home improvement projects and has halfway done every one of them, and furthermore, The Chef would kill you if you bought a house that needed this much work and he’d have every right to do so. That other house costs 3 arms and 3 legs and isn’t even worth half of that.

Make an offer on the 2 arm/2 leg house because the owner is a former builder and he’s used top quality everything throughout both homes. He knew what he was doing and he did it right.”

Aunt Sarah advised us on what she thought a good offer would be which was within $500 of what smart and stylish Rebecca The Realtor suggested.

So we made an offer.

They countered.

We countered again.

Then smart and stylish Rebecca the Realtor put a little muscle behind our counter by saying to the other realtor, “Look, this is a unique property that will require a certain kind of buyer. You have the perfect buyers and they’re gonna stand firm with this offer. They’ve put their best foot forward.”

And guess what?

The sellers accepted!

So, the Grandma Sandy family has found their home in south MS!!!

Now, I must state that with this new home comes 2 things I never thought I’d have and 1 thing I swore I’d never have again.

I’ll start with the thing I swore I’d never have again because swearing I’ll never do something and then having to eat my words is not an uncommon practice in my life, unfortunately.

This house has......

.....a pool.

Our last house had a pool. It was fun, we loved it, but the expense and upkeep on that thing was a killer and The Chef and I said never again.

Oops.

But it’ll be ok. Our last pool was 45,000 gallons and required loads of chlorine and chemicals. This pool is only 15,000 gallons thank You, Lord,

and its a saltwater pool which is supposed to be much easier and cheaper to maintain.

I HOPE.

Now on to one of the things I never thought I’d have, mostly because I’m still not sure what it is......

This is Grandma Sandy’s new shower. And apparently tub. I’m not quite sure.

Here. Take a closer look.

What on earth?

Have you ever in your life?!?

If I’m honest, I’ll have to admit I’m kinda scared of this thing. It looks like if I punch a wrong button I might be zoomed into outer space or something.

And the seller, bless her heart, was so proud of this thing. She couldn’t wait to tell me all about it.

It has a remote control, why the heck do you need a remote control for a shower..why would you want to turn anything on from outside the shower and if you want to turn something on from inside, can’t you just lean over and turn it on?!? honestly, the remote control feature strikes terror in my heart because I see hours of entertainment in The Chef’s future as he experiments with the remote control while I’M trying to bathe.

It’s supposed to be some kind of steam shower or something or other. As long as it gets me clean and doesn’t zoom me into outer space then I’m good.

And the other thing on this property that I never thought I’d have......

......a barn.

I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with a barn but I’m sure I’ll figure out something. I was just about to say I know I definitely won’t get a horse but because I have a history of saying I definitely won’t do something and then later doing it, I’ll just leave that part out. Now I will hopefully never get a horse but if I do, it won’t be because I said I definitely wouldn’t!

But the best thing, the very best thing is that here’s my back porch....

...and right across the pool....

...is Pastor Margaret’s house!

We can wave at each other from our kitchen windows!

Pastor Margaret joked that one of her favorite things about her new house is the fact that she won’t have to mow her front yard. She can swim in it instead!

So a big thank you to the smart, cute, sweet, petite and stylish Rebecca the Realtor for not only finding our perfect house for us but also.....

.....and here’s the best part....she helped us get our new house for $34,000 LESS than the asking price!

So instead of costing 2 arms and 2 legs, we found our new home for an arm and maybe half a leg!

She may be petite, but she’s tough.

I’ll be sad to leave my friends and especially my other Kindergarten teachers here in TN. Thankfully, we won’t be so far away that they can’t come visit and I’m counting on them to do so!

But in the end......

....this Mississippi gal is glad to be going home.

Don’t worry.......

2011-02-23T16:40:00.002-06:00

......Grandma Sandy is still around. She just hasn’t been blogging! For several reasons....

*The Gentleman, our Pawpaw, went Home for his heavenly healing 2 weeks and 2 days ago.

*We’ve had family in town.

*We were out of town. Twice.

*Grandma Sandy got sick on the first out of town trip.

*We’ve had 8 snow days since the beginning of January and a house full of children with cabin fever does not allow Grandma Sandy to do much else but referee.

*I’ve been lazy.

That pretty much sums it up! Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to blogging on a more regular blogging basis.

Y’all come back now!

Family stuff

2011-01-27T05:22:00.003-06:00

Thank you all, for your prayers for my nephew, N. I am thrilled to report that he was discharged from the hospital 2 days ago! He will not be able to return to school for some time but our family is overjoyed that he is home with his parents and sisters where he belongs!

My father-in-law, The Gentleman, will be moved later today to hospice care. My sister-in-law wrote the sweetest words about him. Please go read about him. No way my words could ever do justice to the man that he was.

We’ve had a few snow days lately. It’s been hard to get into the swing of things after the holidays when you only go to school a few days a week. I haven’t smocked, blogged or exercised. When I have a lot on my mind it’s difficult for me to focus on much else.

I’m not worried. Well, a little worried about whether The Gentleman is comfortable or is aware that he will be in heaven soon. The other night after we realized that something was different about him, I took Guitar Boy to the hospital to see him. He was the only one of my children who had not been to the hospital. He had been a little apprehensive about seeing his PawPaw in a way that he was not accustomed. But because we were afraid that The Gentleman may not make it through the night, I “strongly encouraged” Guitar Boy to go with me to see him.

Our PawPaw was kind of in and out of it. We sang some hymns and children’s songs (he used to teach toddler Sunday school!) and he tried to sing along. When we got ready to leave, I told him how much I loved him. He looked at me and said, “I don’t want you to think of me in terms of being sick.” I told him that in no way could I ever remember him that way. Guitar Boy told him he loved him and we left.

I hope our Lord will come quickly. Our PawPaw has fought Parkinson’s and dementia for too long. It’s time for him to be healed for eternity. But it’s still hard letting go.

NFH and THS Jr.

2011-01-16T18:58:00.005-06:00

**Update: N had surgery yesterday morning to have a chest tube inserted in order to better treat his pneumonia. The Dr.’s feel that the infection in his lungs has been the source of his fever and intense pain. The surgery went well but they weren’t able to accomplish all that they really desired. He will get better, but it will be a long process that will likely take several weeks.

Thank you for your prayers and keep them coming!

See this sweet boy?

This sweet boy is my nephew and he is in need of your prayers.

He is in the hospital with the flu, an allergic reaction to medication, pneumonia, severe stomach and back pain, and a UTI. He’s been in terrible pain and has had a high fever over 102 even with meds.

If you would, please pray for N’s healing, for guidance for the doctors and nurses that are caring for him, and for God’s peace to transcend upon him and his parents.

I praise you because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:14

We have always claimed this as N’s verse.

He was not easily conceived.

He was not easily carried.

He was not easily born.

He IS fearfully and wonderfully made, as we all are!

Be still and know that I am God

Psalm 46:10

The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

The Truth in these verses continues to minister and speak to me under any circumstance.

I can only imagine the stress and worry that my brother and sister-in-law must be experiencing as they have to see their young son so sick.

In situations like this I always want to do something, don’t you?

I’m too far away to cook them food, take their daughter to school, rock their baby, do their laundry, or take them snacks to the hospital.

So instead, I will think about them, pray for them, and ask for your prayers, too.

Would you also please pray for my father-in-law, The Gentleman?

As you may recall, he broke his hip over a week ago and he has yet to fully awaken after surgery.

I took the children to see him today for the first time and I could tell he knew we were there.

The little girls couldn’t wait to sing a few songs to him and he actually smiled twice.

We aren’t sure what may happen, but we miss having him at home yet know that God is in control.

Smocking update and Snow Day!!

2011-01-10T21:04:00.003-06:00

First of all, let me start off by saying that I realized I hadn’t posted a pic of my smocking progress in quite a while, so......

....there you go!

I’m almost done. I just have to add some cable flowers inside the big diamonds. I haven’t worked on it at all since a few weeks before Christmas. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish this dress and continue work on the matching dress for The Boss.

I’m really excited about the sewing lamp my parents got me for Christmas! Smocking is so fun and my new lamp should make the process even easier.

I’m also really excited about taking a class later this winter to learn how to construct a bishop.

In my last post, I mentioned that nearly all of our area was under a Winter Storm Warning and we were expected to get a possible 5 inches of snow.

The good news is......

...my “year-round-tree” brought us good luck once again and we got 3-4 inches of snow!

Now one thing I haven’t mentioned is that last Thursday my father-in-law, The Gentleman, fell and broke his hip and has been in the hospital since his surgery Friday night. Because of the predicted snow-fall and The Gentleman’s hospital stay, my mother-in-law, The Pastor, came to spend the night with us!

I just love these pictures of Dogos and The Pastor from last night!

(sorry the last one is so blurry but I loved it so much I just had to post it!)

Three years ago this very month, after Dogos was born and I had to go back to work, The Pastor and The Gentleman kept her until school was out in May.

It just about killed me to have to leave her on school days and I will never be able to put into words how grateful and blessed I was that her grandparents could care for her in such a special way.

I loved knowing that she was in their loving arms and under their very vigilant care.

Every time Dogos gets so excited to see her grandparents I’m reminded of those newborn days she spent with them and I’m thankful all over again.

Finally, after waiting all day long, it started to snow!

It snowed throughout most of the night and the children were so excited to get outside to play this morning!!

In fact, since they could hardly wait and unbeknownst to me, Peanut got the little girls ready to go outside while I was in the shower which explains why.....

....Dogos was wearing a coat that’s too small as well as no gloves.

At least for the moment, Dogos didn’t care so I decided not to care either!

Middle Man was obviously excited!

Early on, one of the older kids left a message for The Chef.

Not sure what # Dad they intended to bestow upon him.

I’m assuming it’s #1!

(it was probably Middle Man...by nature, he tends to leave out important details upon occasion.... bless him!)

Favorite activity of the day for the 5 and under set?

Notice that Dogos’ boot fell off AND that she’s not even wearing a sock.

Rest assured that at that point Grandma Sandy snatched her up, took her inside, and clothed her with the proper snow attire.

Isn’t my Peanut pretty?

For the rest of the day, I decided to make homemade Chicken and Dumplin’s.

(and every time I make C&D I’m reminded why I don’t make it that often but mercy me....it is good!!)

Tomorrow is another Snow Day, The Pastor is here, and tomorrow I hope to make some homemade sauce for lasagna.

Good night all!

Happy New Year and Wow....that’s a lot of kids.

2011-01-08T16:01:00.001-06:00

Grandma Sandy had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas!

Well, except for the stomach bug that afflicted The Boss the night before her 5th birthday. The same stomach bug that then swept through Grandma Sandy’s family as well as Lala’s 4 days before Christmas. The same stomach bug that my mom took home with her in the car for a 6 hour drive the day after Christmas.

I tell ya, that stomach bug was a gift that just kept on giving. And giving.

That part was not much fun.

But Christmas turned out to be perfect in every way and New Year’s was just as special!

For the past few years, my parents have left the day after Christmas and we anticipate the arrival of The Chef’s college roommate, Will. Guitar Boy calls December 26th “Will Day.” Will lives in New Mexico. Each year he flies to TX to spend Christmas with his sister’s family and then flies here to spend the following week with us!

Will works in the music industry and he is quite a musician himself, as you can see for yourself in the post below!

Usually around Dec. 29 or 30th we eagerly await the arrival of some other lifelong friends who stop off on their way back to TX to spend New Year’s with us. They have 4 children and our kids all love each other dearly.

Wow....that’s a lot of kids!

Here is Nancy, their mom. She is one of my sweetest friends. One of those friends with whom you can go months without talking and then she walks in the door and you start jabbering like you just saw each other yesterday.

Nancy is a tiny, petite little thing who has birthed 4 children.

You may wonder why I mentioned that as if it were particularly noteworthy.

It is most definitely noteworthy because her 3 oldest children, she birthed at the same time!!!!

TRIPLETS!!

Our husbands started out in ministry together, and the stories that Nancy and I could tell you about us teaming up to manage our many small children while our husbands were gone on their respective youth trips during the summer would either totally impress you or make you question our sanity.

At our old house in Laurel we had a big swimming pool and she and I were reminiscing about how we would bring the kids (at the time, 6 kids ages 5 and under) home from Vacation Bible School, tag-team swimsuits, sunscreen, and sandwiches, have lunch by the pool, then make the kids swim for 6 hours in order to ensure they would drop like flies at bedtime!

Not only have the kids grown a lot since then but so have our families.

After they moved to Texas they had another child and after we moved to TN we had two more.

So you can imagine that during their visit each year there is tons of activity and always someone to play with.

Each year after the Warrens and Will leave we’re all sad and have to battle back the post-holiday blues. We are blessed to have such special friends.

For now, we’re all looking forward to a New Year and eagerly anticipating what this year will bring for Grandma Sandy and her family!

Especially tomorrow. A possible 5 inches of snow is in the forecast!!!

I’ve got my “year round” tree decorated with snowmen and snowflakes to bring us good luck and hopefully a winter with tons of snow!!

Will

2011-01-08T15:49:00.002-06:00

Our friend, Will, works in the music industry in New Mexico. He installs sound systems and runs sound for concerts of major artists. He is also quite a musician himself! Here is a youtube video of his band. Will is the bass player (with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth while playing....Will it is time to STOP SMOKING!).

WARNING.....there is a second long clip of someone doing ugly finger gestures so be forewarned!

I think they sound awesome! You can imagine how much Guitar Boy loves it when Will comes to town!

We miss you, Will! Try to work in a summer trip this year!

Christmas canes

2010-12-28T13:58:00.000-06:00

The Chef’s grandfather, Grandaddy, was a man of many and varied talents. He grew the most beautiful roses and a lavish vegetable garden.

He was of the generation of southern men that didn’t do housework, but he vacuumed, cleaned, and cooked.

Grandaddy even cross-stitched!

But one of the things that impressed me most was his ability to work with wood and one of the most special things that he did was to make Christmas canes.

Each year after Christmas after the family Christmas tree was taken down, Grandaddy would take the Christmas tree trunk and make it into a walking cane.

We have canes from many years ago.

Each one is different.

There are different handles and different etchings.

On this cane he recorded some of their many travels.

He would burn different etchings and designs and on each cane he would record what everyone got for Christmas that year.....

...as well as any special family events or announcements that had occurred during that year.

This is the cane from the year that The Chef’s dad got into law school.

The Chef’s nickname was T-3 and this is the cane from the year that The Chef was born.

I love each and every one of those canes. I can only imagine the hours he spent designing and making each one, reflecting on the past year and thinking about his family that he loved so dearly.

Love and miss you, Grandaddy.

silver lining

2010-12-26T16:55:00.000-06:00

SilentNight - Selah

2010-12-23T09:51:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!

December 23rd is my absolute favorite day of the year! By December 23rd, most of my crazy Christmas errands have been checked off, my parents are on their way to spend Christmas with us, and there’s still the anticipation of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the church services and celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

For the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my class and I listened to Christmas music on Pandora during literacy centers and rest time.

One day during rest time Silent Night came on. It was one of the most beautiful versions I’d ever heard. So pretty, in fact, that I rushed over to the computer to see whose recording it was. It was a Christian group, Selah.

Selah’s version of Silent Night was so beautiful I immediately downloaded it from iTunes and found it on youtube to share with you.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.